Pokémon seems to be the only thing American DS owners are talking about at the moment, but in Japan they've had a good half-year to satisfy their collector's compulsion and catch 'em all. No, the hot news over there is the arrival of Final Fantasy XII: Revenant Wings for DS.
Granted, that might have seemed slightly more significant back in the days when Final Fantasy games appeared less frequently than, say, Mega Man sequels -- but even if you're finding the series' constant rehashes a little wearisome, you have to admit that Revenant Wings is a pretty big deal. It is, after all, a fully original game, a sequel to last year's multi-million-selling FFXII, and it combines the names Final Fantasy and Nintendo DS. In short, a sure-fire success.
But what is Revenant Wings, precisely? Early descriptions and guesses were all over the place, ranging from an action RPG to a portable rendition of its console predecessor's mechanics. In reality, it's neither; it's actually a real-time strategy game. To put a fine point on it, Revenant Wings looks and plays a lot like the upcoming Heroes of Mana. The game is broken into individual missions, and the player controls a party of named heroes through 3D sprite-on-polygon battlefields, summoning armies of familiar series monsters with a touch screen interface.
Revenant Wings is definitely its own experience, though. Set a year after FFXII's finale, it follows Vahn and his probably-more-than-just-a-friend Penelo as they set out to become air pirates in the newly peaceful skies of Ivalice. The story takes plenty of cues from its predecessor -- for instance, the duo frequently teams up with veteran pirates Balthier and Fran. The opening missions take place in the Glabados Ruins (a familiar name to Final Fantasy Tactics fans) and the Dalmascan capital of Rabinastre -- the second mission perfectly reproduces the city's main fountain and south gate in miniaturized form -- with cinemas set in the Lowtown area. The music is taken straight from FFXII, albeit in a somewhat downsampled form reminiscent of LucasArt's old iMUSE soundtracks. And the cast features plenty of returning faces; Bathier and Fran assist in the Glabados Ruins, while Vahn's street urchin friends Kytes, Tomaj and Filo stand in as major participants. Finally, a surprise ambush by Balthier's rival Ba'Gamnan and his bangaa henchmen is what kicks the story into high gear at the end of the first chapter.
The first four missions are basically a chance for players to come to terms with the new gameplay style. Gamers hoping to find a portable FFXII in Revenant Wings should adjust their expectations: Square Enix has said that it hopes to tap into the DS's more casual gaming market with this adventure, so the intricacy and depth of FFXII have been discarded in favor of greater immediacy. The political intrigue and serious tone are also missing, but that should be little surprise given that Revenant Wings is directed by Motomu Toriyama, the man who gave us Final Fantasy X-2. Granted, it isn't quite as offbeat as X-2, and only Penelo seems to be dressed more skimpily than before, but the game's shared parentage should be obvious, from the mission-based structure to the use of an airship as the group's home base.
Battles are at once streamlined and sprawling. Players control Vahn and the rest of the main cast in what initially appears to be a stylus-driven take on FFXII's battle system. This includes gambits: Tap one of the character icons along the top of the screen and a small menu appears that allows attacks to be selected, with special attacks being set as gambits. Revenant Wings' version of gambits is much simpler than FFXII's nested programming sequences, though; here, they're simply special commands that can be spammed automatically. Vahn has a powerful dual sword strike, Kytes casts Firaga, and Penelo slings Cure spells at wounded allies. Gambits require a bit of charge time, so between charges characters rely on basic melee attacks to weaken foes.
The similarities to FFXII's combat evaporate fairly quickly. Combatants fall into one of four categories -- melee, ranged, flying, support -- each of which has a rock-paper-scissors style relationship with the others. (Except support, which is weak against everything and should be kept out of harm's way.) An even bigger change is the ability to summon monsters from gates located in different parts of each battlefield. The monster-summoning aspect is what transforms Revenant Wings from stripped-down FFXII into an RTS; by tapping a monster gate, players can create new summoned creatures from thin air in exchange for summon points. Each class of creature costs different point values, with higher ranks obviously commanding steeper fees.
Though initially limited to gargoyles, alarunes and sylphs, the mob selections eventually grow to include higher-level monsters like tonberries and even traditional Final Fantasy summons. The first mission pits the party against Ifrit, and other summons revealed so far include the old (Shiva), the new (Shiva's child and husband) and the returning (FFXII beasts like Hashmal and Queklain). Although only the main cast can equip gear between missions, a series of convenient pull-down tabs makes it easy to check on the stats of each individual monster in the heat of battle. Battles contain neutral parties as well, such as the pair of giza rabbits in mission 1-3 who toss Cure spells at anyone who comes near.
The second chapter is where Revenant Wings truly begins; Vahn and his crew arrive at the floating continent of Lemurés and encounter a race of winged humans living high above Ivalice. This is where the gameplay begins to reveal its true substance as well. While the story seems to transpire largely through linear missions and a few sidequests, players are free to fly about the different continents of Lemurés, landing at specific points to travel on foot. Also introduced in chapter two is an element of resource-gathering -- loot to be gathered from treasures chests, minerals to be mined, enemy corpses to be pillaged. Resources can be forged into handy gear between battles courtesy of Tomaj, who sets up a smithy aboard the team's airship. Also of note are "survival spots," designated areas of the battlefield where combatants can pause to heal their wounds.
Revenant Wings may not quite be the game fans expected -- or perhaps wanted, given the mixed response it's received in Japan -- and it seems to suffer from some gameplay quirks. Selecting groups is cumbersome, and the fixed isometric perspective doesn't help. But generally speaking, it's a polished-looking game that's easy to pick up and play with a mission structure works well as a portable experience. Besides, chances are we probably won't see Revenant Wings in the U.S. this year, so that gives Square Enix plenty of time to work out the kinks before its inevitable American release.
Submitted by Guyver
09/05/2007
98
7
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